J Electroceram (2009) 23:335–340

DOI 10.1007/s10832-008-9451-0

Application of piezoelectric multi-layered actuator

to floating mass transducer for implantable middle ear
hearing devices
Eung-Pyo Hong & Il-Yong Park & Ki-Woong Seong &
Chang-Woo Lee & Myoung-Nam Kim & Jin-Ho Cho

Received: 31 May 2007 / Accepted: 12 February 2008 / Published online: 9 March 2008
# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract Implantable middle ear hearing devices (IMEHDs),
which have been developed since the 1970s, directly stimulate
the middle ear and can realize a high efficiency of sound
transmission with better sound fidelity. For such kinds of
IMEHDs, this paper presents the design and application of a
piezoelectric floating mass transducer (PFMT) using a PMN-
E.-P. Hong
Korea Orthopedics & Rehabilitation Engineering Center,
Incheon, Republic of Korea
e-mail: ephong@korec.re.kr
I.-Y. Park (*)
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine,
Dankook University,
Cheonan, Republic of Korea
e-mail: piyong@hanmail.net
PT multi-layered actuator as a new type of vibrating
transducer. The proposed PFMT consists of only three
components of a multi-layered piezoelectric actuator, a metal
case, and a clamping clip. The actuator’s one side is connected
with the metal case and the other side is linked to the clamp for
the attachment to an incus long process of middle ear ossicles.
The vibration displacement of the PFMT attached to the incus
is studied theoretically by simplified kinetic model between
the PFMT and the incus. Through an in-vitro experiment
using a human temporal bone, it has been verified that the
proposed PFMT can generate the vibration force equivalent
to the sound pressure of about 100 dB SPL. Therefore, the
proposed PFMT is expected to be used as an IMEHD
transducer with the advantages such as simple surgical
implantation, no interference from external electromagnetic
fields, and improved productivity.

K.-W. Seong Keywords Piezoelectric multi-layered actuator .

Graduate School of Electrical and Computer Science, Piezoelectric floating mass transducer .
Kyungpook National University, Implantable middle ear hearing devices
Daegu, Republic of Korea
e-mail: happywoong@hotmail.com

C.-W. Lee 1 Introduction

Defense Agency for Technology and Quality,
Daegu, Republic of Korea
As one of the advanced hearing aid systems, an IMEHD
e-mail: ycwysh@hanafos.com
that can directly stimulate the ossicular chain in the middle
M.-N. Kim ear by the use of a miniaturized vibration transducer
Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, attached to an ossicle with bypassing an external ear canal
Kyungpook National University,
Daegu, Republic of Korea
and a tympanic membrane. Generally, air-conductional
e-mail: kimmn@knu.ac.kr hearing aids have several kinds of disadvantages such as
occlusion effect, sound distortion, and howling effect due to
J.-H. Cho acoustic feedback. Thus, for hearing impaired individuals
School of Electrical and Computer Science,
with a mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss, IMEHDs
Kyungpook National University,
Daegu, Republic of Korea have been studied and developed as a new hearing aid to
e-mail: jhcho@ee.knu.ac.kr solve the problems of conventional hearing aids [1–4].

DO09451; No of Pages
336
The vibration transducers, which directly stimulate the
ossicular chain and play the most important role in the
components of an IMEHD, can be divided into two types:
piezoelectric and electromagnetic. Piezoelectric vibrators
have been extensively studied by Yanagihara and Suzuki
et al. [5–6], and their vibrators shown to exhibit better
frequency characteristics and a higher sound fidelity than
electromagnetic vibrators. Currently developed devices
using a piezoelectric vibrator are Otoloics’ MET, St. Croix
Medical’s Envoy, Implex AG’s TICA, and Rion’s implant-
able hearing device. However, since one end of a
piezoelectric vibrator should be contacted precisely with a
certain point of middle ear ossicles and the other end has to
be fixed somewhere in the temporal bone, they lead a
complex and difficult surgery procedure, including a
mastoidectomy and some form of manipulation of the
ossicular chain. So, it has been demanded that the surgery
procedure time should be below 2 h and the multiple steps
needed to properly install a piezoelectric vibrator should be
reduced and simplified [4].
Among the electromagnetic vibrators that have been
developed for IMEHDs [7–11], the Vibrant Soundbridge
(MED-EL Corporation) is the only device obtained the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The
floating mass transducer (FMT) of their IMEHDs is an
electromagnetic transducer attached with a titanium clamp
to the incus long process through a facial recess approach.
However, despite such an easy surgical process, the FMT
suffers from the interference due to the environmental
electromagnetic fields, unlike piezoelectric transducers.
This electromagnetic interference was recently significantly
resolved by Cho et al. through the use of a differential
floating mass transducer (DFMT) [12]. Yet, since their
electromagnetic transducer consists of about ten compo-
nents within a very small cylinder of 2.1 mm (diameter)×
1.8 mm (length), the complex assembling process results in
a low productivity and irregular vibration characteristics.
Therefore, a solution to the problems of surgical proce-
dures and interference from environmental electromagnetic
fields may be the realization of a new floating mass
transducer using a piezoelectric actuator rather than an
electromagnetic one. However, since piezoelectric materials
only show expansion-and-contraction in the direction of the
applied voltage, a floating mass type transducer that can
produce an alternating vibration has not been developed yet.
Accordingly, this paper proposes the piezoelectric
floating mass transducer (PFMT) with a simple structure,
consisting of a PMN-PT multi-layered piezoelectric vibra-
tor and a metal case. Similar to the FMT, the PFMT can be
attached to the incus long process with a clamp and vibrates
the ossicular chain according to the force originating from
the piezoelectric actuator’s expansion-and-contraction. To
J Electroceram (2009) 23:335–340
design the vibrating characteristics of the PFMT, the
vibration displacement has been investigated. The in-vitro
experimental results using a human cadevar and the
implemented PFMT demonstrates that the proposed PFMT
can provide enough sound pressure to the cochlea for
utilization in an IMEHD for individuals who have the mild-
to-severe sensorineural hearing loss.
2 Proposed PFMT
The transducer is the most important component of an
IMEHD and its vibration characteristics should be designed
to facilitate a clear sound signal transmission to the cochlea.
Also, a simple surgical operation should be considered
without affecting the auditory ossicles. Figure 1(a) shows
the proposed PFMT which is attached to the incus long
process.
2.1 Structure of PFMT
The PFMT consisting of a metal case and a multi-layered
piezoelectric actuator, as shown in Fig. 1(b), is attached to
the incus long process with an attachment clamp. One side
of the piezoelectric actuator is fixed to the metal case, while
the other side is stuck to the clamp. Then, the ossicle is
vibrated by the repetition of the piezoelectric actuator’s
expansion and contraction according to the applied voltage.
When the PFMT is attached to the ossicle, the relationship
between the metal case and the ossicular chain can be
regarded as the movement of two objects ruled by the pair
of action-reaction forces in both sides of the piezoelectric
actuator.
The multi-layered PMN-PT piezoelectric actuator has the
high vibration efficiency required for a middle ear implant.
It has also been reported that the PMN-PT piezoelectric
material has better vibration efficiency than PZT materials
[13, 14]. In a multi-layered actuator, the displacement, ΔT,
Fig. 1 Schematic of the proposed PFMT; (a) the PFMT is attached to
the incus long process via a clamp and (b) structure of the PFMT
J Electroceram (2009) 23:335–340 337

and driving force, FP, produced from an actuator with n When the actuator expands the displacement by Δd
layers excited by the applied voltage, V, are given by toward M1, the movement toward M1 is only s1 due to the
DT ¼ nd33 V ð1Þ action and reaction, and the movement toward the other
side is s01 . Meanwhile, when the actuator expands the
displacement by Δd toward M2, s2 and s02 occur in the same
FP ¼ kT DT ð2Þ way. Thus, the displacement toward M1 is s1 +s2. The
relationship between the weight and the displacement is
where d33 is the strain coefficient [m/V] and kT is the given by Newton’s 3rd law of motion.
stiffness [N/m] of the piezoelectric material [15]. The
PMN-PT multi-layered actuator used in this study has
the cross section area of 1×1 mm2. Each layer is 0.2 mm s1 s1 MP þ M2
¼ ¼ ð4Þ
thick and our implemented actuator with nine layers has the s01 Dd
s1 M1
thickness of 1.8 mm. Total mass of PFMT is 10 mg [13].
s2 s2 M2
2.2 Displacement of PFMT vibration ¼ ¼ ð5Þ
s02 Dd
s2 MP þ M1
Figure 2 shows the displacement of the vibration driven
by the piezoelectric actuator force, FP, when the PFMT by combining Eqs. 4 and 5, the displacement toward M1
attached on the incus. If the damping and spring of the can be established as
incus are disregarded, M1, MP, and M2 move in the same
straight line and the actuator expands the displacement,
MP þ 2M2
Δd, by the same amount toward the both sides. The s1 þ s2 ¼ Dd ð6Þ
M1 þ MP þ M2
displacement, Δd, can then be expressed by the following
equation.
2.3 Design considerations
Dd ¼ s1 þ s01
ð3Þ
¼ s2 þ s02 In a normal ear, the initial sound pressure that enters the
external auditory canal is amplified by an auditory
transmission process through the tympanic membrane and
where,
ossicular chain. Therefore, the vibrator that is implanted in
s1 the displacement toward M1 by the action force of the an incus in the middle ear cavity is designed to consider the
actuator, amplified displacement of the sound pressure. The stapes
s01 the displacement toward M2 by the reaction force of the displacement of 100 nm is enough for the transducer to be
actuator, used in current IMEHDs [7] and the frequency response
s2 the displacement toward M1 by the reaction force of the characteristics of the incus are similar to that of the stapes
actuator, [3]. From the Eq. 6, if the mass of incus is 27 mg [16], then
s02 the displacement toward M2 by the action force of the the vibration displacement of the incus is about 100 nm
actuator when the mass of metal case is about 20 to 30 mg.
Fig. 2 Schematic representation
of vibration displacement
originating from action and
reaction of actuator’s
expansion
338
Fig. 3 Photograph of implementation; (a) components of the PFMT, (b) lead wire bonding, (c) case and actuator bonding, and (d) the
implemented PFMT
The PFMT is surgically implanted and attached to the incus
long process via a metal clamp. However, due to the confined
space between the tympanic membrane and the incus, the
dimensions and the mass of the transducer are limited. The
size of the transducer which can be attached to the incus long
process in the middle ear cavity has a diameter of 3–4 mm and
height of 2.4 mm. In case of the FMT, the maximum size is
height of 2.4 mm [17]. The actuator used in this study is 1×
1 mm cross-section and 1.8 mm thick. So, the metal case
which is 20 mg can be determined by a size of 2.5 mm in
diameter and 1.5 mm in height. The resulted PFMT has a
diameter of 2.5 mm and the height of 2 mm or more.
Biocompatibility is an essential condition for any
implantable system. To enhance the durability and biocom-
patibility of the PFMT, a 3 μm-thick Parylene film will be
uniformly deposited on the entire surface of the imple-
mented PFMT.
2.4 Implementation
The components of the implemented PFMT are a piezo-
electric actuator, a metal case, two lead wires, and a metal
clamp. Figure 3 shows the implemented PFMT. The
piezoelectric material was 1 mm×1 mm×1.8 mm in size and
Fig. 4 Size of the implemented
PFMT
J Electroceram (2009) 23:335–340
weighed 10 mg. The lead wire is an insulated copper wire with
0.05 mm diameter and it is stuck to the actuator using a silver
paste. The titanium clamp is fabricated using a process
including photolithography and dry etching and its thickness
is 0.08 mm and the weight is 1 mg. The gold case, an
elaborately wrought carving using a process of micro-
machining, shows the mass of 20 mg, the diameter of
2.5 mm, and the height of 1.5 mm. One side of the actuator
is attached to the metal case and the other side is stuck to the
clamp by an adhesive. The components are precisely
assembled and a 3 μm-thick parylene coating is uniformly
deposited on the entire surface of the implemented PFMT. The
resulted PFMT which shows the diameter of 2.5 mm and the
height of 2.1 mm was shown in Fig. 4. The total mass of
the PFMT, including the clamp and the adhesive, is 35 mg.
3 Results and discussions
To certificate the proposed transducer for IMEHDs, after
measuring the displacement of the actuator itself, in-vitro
test to measure the stapes displacement using the PFMT and
a human temporal bone has been performed to analyze the
vibration displacement.
J Electroceram (2009) 23:335–340
Fig. 5 Vibration displacements of the PMN-PT multi-layered actuator
3.1 Measurement of piezoelectric actuator displacement
To measure the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator,
the lead wires are bonded to the actuator. One end of the
actuator is bonded to an anti-vibration table and the
displacement of the other side of the actuator can be
measured by applying a sine wave voltage with a frequency
range from 500 Hz to 8 kHz. As shown in Fig. 5, the
measurement results shows that the frequency characteristic
of the actuator is flat within 8 kHz, while the vibration
displacement is about 200 nm at 20 VP-P.
Generally, the force generated from the piezoelectric
actuator is enough for driving the ossicular chain, but the
transmission of this force from the actuator to the ossicle is
inefficient when the actuator is not fixing in the middle ear.
The proposed PFMT can deliver the force from the actuator
to the ossicle using the metal case as a floating inertial
mass.
The hearing impaired individuals suffer from hearing
loss in a high frequency range from about 1 to 4 kHz [18].
Thus, the transducers used in IMEHDs are designed to
provide significant high frequency compensation. As
shown in Fig. 5, the measurement results show that the
frequency characteristic of the PFMT is flat in the
frequency range lower than 8 kHz. Therefore, the proposed
PFMT can provide significant high output from 1 to 4 kHz.
Fig. 6 In-vitro test; (a) photo-
graph of implanted PFMT and
(b) stapes displacements driven
by the PFMT and the acoustic
stimulations at the tympanic
membrane
339
The vibration displacement is proportional to driving
voltage of the piezoelectric actuator. In this experiment,
the driving voltage is 20 VP-P. Practically, increasing the
driving voltage is limited by the characteristics of the
piezoelectric material. The piezoelectric actuators used in
this experiment operate up to 40 VP-P in normal operation
and the vibration displacement of the actuator itself can be
magnified twice of this experiment, about 400 nm accord-
ing to the voltage-displacement linearity [15].
3.2 In-vitro test
To investigate the usefulness of the proposed PFMT as a
transducer for IMEHDs, an in-vitro experiment has been
carried out using an ossicular chain of the cadaver
sampled three years ago. To examine the vibration
characteristic of the middle ear ossicles, the stapes
vibration in response to the acoustic stimulation in front
of the tympanic membrane should be measured prior to
the PFMT attachment. The stapes vibration data from
acoustic stimulation act as a reference to the stapes
vibration data from actuator stimulation. A 100 dB SPL
acoustic stimulation was chosen as a reference which is
commonly used in other studies. Using an audio amplifier
and a loudspeaker, sounds with an audible frequency of
100 dB SPL can be generated and applied to the eardrum
of the temporal bone through a tube and the vibration
displacements of the stapes are measured.
After measuring the ossicle vibration, the PFMT is
attached to the incus long process. The PFMT implanting
position should be as close as possible to the incudostapedial
joint to minimize the decrease of displacement [11]. The
designed PFMT is small enough to be attached to the incus
long process using a clamp in the middle ear cavity, as
shown in Fig. 6(a). Then, the vibration displacements of the
stapes are measured by a laser vibrometer when sine wave
signals are applied to the PFMT.
Figure 6(b) shows the measured stapes displacements
driven by the PFMT and the acoustic stimulations. From the
340
stapes displacement of a physical stimulation using the
PFMT, the primary resonant frequency appears at approx-
imately 1 kHz and the displacement is 191 nm and the
stapes displacement is more than 100 nm from 600 Hz to
6 kHz. Also, the PFMT can generate a vibration force
equivalent to a sound pressure of about 100 dB SPL up to
8 kHz. From 3 to 7 kHz, the stapes vibration from the
PFMT was considerably greater than that from acoustic
stimulation. These stapes vibrations are sufficient for an
implantable transducer and show the PFMT to have a
useful frequency characteristic.
4 Conclusion
This paper presented the application of a piezoelectric multi-
layered actuator to the piezoelectric floating mass transduc-
er that combines the advantages of a piezoelectric vibration
transducer and electromagnetic transducer for use in an
IMEHD. The proposed PFMT simply consists of a multi-
layered piezoelectric actuator and metal case. The PFMT
vibrates the ossicle based on the action-and-reaction force
between the ossicle and the piezoelectric actuator. An in-
vitro experiment using a cadaver confirmed that the
proposed PFMT with a weight of 35 mg could generate a
vibration force equivalent to a sound pressure of about
100 dB SPL up to 8 kHz. Accordingly, the proposed
PFMT is expected to be a useful transducer for current
IMEHDs.
Acknowledgement “This study was supported by a grant of the
Korea Health 21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare,
J Electroceram (2009) 23:335–340
Republic of Korea (02-PJ3-PG6-EV10-0001) and this work was
supported by the Brain Korea 21 Project.”
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